Abbott Drops Cyber Attack Suit
Abbott Laboratories has withdrawn its controversial lawsuit against AIDS activists who launched a cyber attack against its Web site in April.
Abbott said it would drop the suit after meeting with members of Act-Up Paris and reaching an agreement about access to its AIDS drugs, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The newspaper says the company has been at the center of “a public relations storm” over the high cost and availability of the treatments in developing countries.
Abbott’s suit against Act-Up Paris, filed in a French court, had said the group posted an Abbott link on its own Web site inviting activists to click to protest recent actions by the drugmaker. (See this ABAJournal.com post for more information.)
Abbott spokeswoman Jennifer Smoter told the Chicago Tribune, “We dropped the suit as ACT Up-Paris acknowledged that communication via our Web site to doctors and patients is important.”
